Fifteen new street cleaners have joined Harrow Council, a year after more than 50 were made redundant.
In April 2007, the Conservative-controlled authority slashed the public realm department's budget for the second year in a row, leading to job cuts.
But the quality of the service took a nosedive, public confidence shrank, and the Tories called in consultancy firm Capita to review the service.
As a result, this week the authority announced that 15 workers - hired with a £750,000 injection to the environment budget - had finished their training at the council's depot in Forward Drive, Wealdstone, and were ready to sweep Harrow town centre and outlying areas.
Public service union UNISON's February newsletter says: "After months of talks with members and the chief executive, the council has listened to us and its residents and invested funds back into the decimated street scene service."
Councillor Susan Hall (Conservative), Harrow Council's portfolio holder for environment services, presided over the original downsizing of the department and now this new crop of recruits.
She said: "It is great news to have the new cleaners ready to start. Spotless streets are essential to make our town attractive for people to live and work in and we know it is one of our residents' top priorities."
Labour's shadow spokesman for environmental services Councillor Phillip O'Dell said: "It's a move in the right direction. Customer satisfaction was low and there were many problems."
When the Observer questioned the council on the rehiring U-turn, a spokeswoman said: "Due to the tight funding settlement imposed by the government, we were regrettably forced make savings across a number of areas.
"Street cleaning is a top priority for the council and due to our efficiencies programme we are now in a position to realign our budgets in order to fund this new team."
